The BIGG Successs Show
Want to be a Millionaire? Here's How to Think Like One
The millions stack up much faster when you make every dollar count. Find a written summary of today's show along with links to to the article and book we mention at BIGGSUCCESS.COM.
Welcome to The Big Success Show. Today we ask, "Wanna be a millionaire?" Well, here's how to think like one. The Big Success Show with George and Mary Lynn. CNN Money has a great slideshow where they've asked 40 people for the best advice they ever got about money. And Bill Nygren, who's the fantastic manager over at the Oak Mark Select Fund, refers to a Johnny Carson Show that he saw. Well, he was watching this Johnny Carson Show where Johnny asked Andrew Tobias, the financial guru, what he would do if he had $1000 to invest. What would he invest that $1000 in? And Andrew said he would buy non-perishable staples. And the crowd got quite a kick out of that answer. Yeah, I mean, just picture this great financial mind whose best investment advice is to buy non-perishable items. But his point is a really good one. That when you save money, that's as good as investing money. So in either case, you're going to end up with more money. Because if you think about it, saving $100 is actually even better than making $100, right? Because if we make $100, we still have to pay income taxes. And so it all boils down to the fact that every day, we make trade-offs. We trade time for money. Yeah, the perfect example is eating out, all right? Oh, you're walking on the thin ice here, Marilyn. I love eating out. Well, I do too. Sometimes we'll eat out because we don't have the time to go shopping and cook for ourselves. But if you're thinking like an investor, the question is, how are we using that time? If we're not using it productively, and if it's not going to help us make more money or save money somewhere else, then we may as well shop and cook it ourselves. That's right, Marilyn. And another trade-off we all face is this whole now versus later, right? If I spend it today, I won't have it tomorrow. But if I don't spend it today and I invest it, then I'll have more tomorrow. And we constantly are balancing which one of those two will make me happier. And coming back to the advice that Andrew Tobias gave, if I can get a great deal on non-perishable items today that will save me money over time, well, it very well may be the best investment I can make now with a small amount of money. And Bill Nygren says that when he heard this advice, he realized that the right way to think about investing is that all of our transactions are an investment. We often think of investing as a 401k, investing in our house, real estate, stocks, that sort of thing. But the reality is, every single dollar we spend is an investment. And that's how millionaires think and more about that coming up. Today, we're talking about how millionaires think, and every dollar they spend is considered an investment, whether it's for what we traditionally call investments, or even just for purchases we make in general. Thomas Stanley wrote The Millionaire Mind, and it struck us that Bill Nygren's advice that all transactions are an investment fits millionaires perfectly. Yeah, because millionaires, according to Thomas Stanley, maximize the value of every dollar spent. Now, there's some specific ways they go about doing this, and it almost goes against the grain or the traditional thought of how we think millionaires would spend money. But one example is millionaires tend to buy used cars. That's because new cars go down in value really, really fast. Use cars tend to do better. They hold their value a little bit better, and so millionaires will invest in used cars. Millionaires will invest in couture clothes, but buy them second hand, because clothes are going to go down in value. So why spend money on an item that isn't going to have a good return? Well, and here's Marilyn, where it kind of goes against this philosophy. We were buying used cars, we were buying clothes second hand, but they buy very high quality furniture. And the reason is high quality furniture tends to go up in value over time. So millionaires are constantly weighing this now versus later time versus money trade off, and they're thinking of every dollar they spend as an investment to make it count. You can get a written summary of today's show, and you'll also find links to the article and the book we referenced on our site at Big Success that's bigwith2gsuccess.com. And while you're there, sign up for our free big success weekly to get the tips and tools you need to be a big success. Next time we'll talk about getting ahead by getting out. Until then, here's to your big success. The Big Success Show at B-I-G-G Success.com [MUSIC]